Program focuses on saving kids

School officials, teachers told to pick up phone if abuse is suspected

9:51 PM,
Feb. 3, 2013

Written by

Sophia Voravong
svoravong@jconline.com

After the body of 13-year-old Christian Choate was found in a makeshift grave in a Gary mobile home park on May 4, 2011, authorities learned that more than a dozen people knew the boy was kept in a dog cage and repeatedly beaten by his father and stepmother.

But that abuse was never reported.

Across the state, 5-year-old Lauren McConniel of Muncie was the victim of a similar fate at the hands of her stepmother and father. She died on May 9, 2010, from malnutrition, brain damage and a lethal amount of salt in her system. ...